


The potion of nothing

by depresane



Series: detached TiNTiGTiN scenes [3]
Category: Baldur's Gate, Forgotten Realms
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Betrayal, F/M, Fanon, Implied/Referenced Incest, Ironic Echo, Memories, Memory Alteration, Recovering Memories, Sadism, Science Experiments, Toxic Relationships, UUUUUUHHH..., Vampires, fanfic spoilers, garbage fic, recalling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 07:35:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20467373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/depresane/pseuds/depresane
Summary: Contains half-baked plot devices and traces of Neverwinter Nights.





	The potion of nothing

A long glass bottle was standing at the end of a long apparatus. An opaque elixir started dropping.  
A vampiress was watching the process. Each drop splashed quietly, soothing her thoughts a little bit.  
It took him so long to distill that mixture, to find the ingredients that would work with the puff of Bhaal's soul, to extract that soul from Sarevok's body... Everything took too long for Jon to complete, in her view. That was what had doomed them in the first place.  
But it would soon be over.  
  
Her memories, distorted by vampiric taint, reconstructed night by night, further and further away from the truth. Her body, physically strong but struck with allergies, reacting violently to water, metals, clothes, and fruit. Her eyes dry, her tongue burning, her belly itching, her womb refusing to broaden.  
She longed for relief.  
One-eighth of the bottle filled with the elixir. Jon was sleeping. Maybe she could take a sip, just for testing.  
She lifted the container with one hand and moved the other hand under the apparatus' tubule, palm up. As she was drinking, she caught four drops. She put the bottle back and licked the palm.  
It tasted of nothing.  
Disappointed, she left the room.  
  
She looked through a basement window. The waning moon highlighted a bell tower. She disliked those gray, cubic buildings with no domes. She couldn't take a glance at pyres of corpses. She had enough of the nasty blood of the sick. Why did he have to go there?  
She wondered, even though she knew the answer - or rather, Jon's excuse.  
"Nobody will expect us in Neverwinter."  
Indeed, whoever that vampire hunter was, they didn't follow her North-West. Were they native to Athkatla? Have they genuinely lost the spiritual contact with her? She couldn't tell. She couldn't recall anything other than fear. She was just maintaining her guild, having fun while waiting for Jon... And there they were, a half-elf with an eye-patch.  
Although, was Athkatla really that better?  
Of course not. Suldanessellar surpassed both cities. A faint, blurry half-memory of her elven life. If only she could focus.  
  
The vampiress returned to the apparatus. Another portion of the elixir was calling her with high-pitched splashes. She drank. This time she felt fuzziness in her throat.  
She went outside, squatted and closed her eyes.  
Home. Peaceful trees. Round houses. Colourful birds. Hanging bridges. The Queen: blonde beauty in a turquoise cape, smiling gently.  
Wait, really? Only the cape? Not even chainmail?  
She indulged her doubting thoughts. As the memory intensified, the Queen's facial expression smeared like fresh paint; so did the surroundings, shifting into a dark room. No longer stoic, the Queen was kneeling on the floor, disgusted and shaken.  
Jon was lying feet away from her, bleeding from his head.  
A silhouette approached the Queen. She was _given_ the cape.  
"Take him away. And Bodhi, too."  
  
"Me, too? Why was I even there?"  
She didn't question what she supported herself. Jon always wanted to claim the Queen; it was a matter of time. She didn't understand, however, why she would be watching the abduction. Was she helping?  
She returned to the bottle. She had to know.  
Exhausting though it was, she managed to reconstruct the memory. Queen Ellesime had summoned them to discuss Jon's experiments.  
"Are you trying to become a god? Or are you hoping your... disgraceful projects would impress me?"  
He didn't respond.  
"Frankly, I fail to understand either. You don't need a divine life, you already have the precious elven life. You don't need a divine power, your spells..."  
"You are letting me down, Elle."  
"Excuse you! As for the latter... I, I don't know anymore. The more time I waste on you, the worse you're getting. Looking down on me. Pressing me. And your self-proclaimed sister is disrespecting animals, killing them for sport. Both of you..."  
"Bodhi is my sister and you should be nicer to her."  
"A lab sister, maybe! For she is way too immoral to pass as a naturally born elf!"  
Jon frowned, his eyebrows twitching. "Morality is just a construct."  
Ellesime yelled, "Guards!"  
But a barrier darkened the room, trapping three of them inside.  
  
He didn't manage. The Queen stepped back, close enough to snatch her sword, and hit his head with a pommel.  
  
Bodhi touched her mutilated ears. She choked. All those years she assumed her exile resulted from some kind of an important tree. Sure, the tree existed and Jon exploited it a couple of times. But she did remember one detail correctly: yet again, Jon was too slow.  
  
She reached for the bottle one more time.  
  
She recalled water. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt; it only felt a bit cool.  
She recalled glass. Smooth. Transparent. Very likely constructed with magic.  
She recalled Jon. He touched the glass wall. He spoke, "You are my pride."  
  
Decades passed, and there was no pride left. His frown aimed at Ellesime was his last. Their search for divinity became a necessity. She took a risk and got herself turned. Just to exist. Just to stand by him. Because one day, it would all end. They would ascend.  
They...  
She...  
She drank the whole elixir. She restored her memories.  
But nothing changed.  
  
Of course. Sarevok's divine soul was meant only for him.  
  
She chuckled.  
  
Jon was still sleeping. He turned to his side.  
Bodhi smirked. "You took a risk and trusted a vampire. Truly, you loved me without uttering those words. But it's too late, my dear Joneleth. You have let me down."


End file.
